cutting pbs funding might not directly endanger big bird since "sesame street" gets most of its money from corporate funding and donations. still, mitt romney was depicted making big bird thanksgiving dinner. if romney wins, i die, but governor romney offered some hope. >> i'm not going to kill big bird, i promise, but there can be advertisements on pbs to help pay for big bird. big bird is going to have to get used to kell logs corn flakes. maybe this is what it would have sounded like. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. >> reporter: >> oh, that's too bad. >> reporter: if big bird joined the debate. >> i like pbs. >> reporter: >> oh. >> i like big bird. >> really. >> reporter: jeanne moos, new york. good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. victor blackwell is off today. it is 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. out west. thanks so much for starting your day with us.

we begin this hour with the latest jobs numbers. they are providing ammunition in the battle for the white house. the labor department says 114,000 jobs were created in september with the unemployment rate coming in at 7.8%, that's a drop of 0.3 from august. the obama and romney campaign jumped on these figures and, of course, they came down on opposite sides. cnn political editor paul steinhauser joining us this morning. good morning, paul. so there's one month, hard to believe, till election day, and no issue bigger than jobs, right? >> no doubt about that, randi, and you're right. after what you could consider a tough week for the president coming out of that debate in denver the jobs numbers are a good sign for his re-election bid, a happy sign for the re-election team, but for mitt romney this is fascinating, landi, because the unemployment rate is below 8% for the first time since barack obama came into the white house back in january of 2009. you have heard mitt romney on the campaign trail over and over

again, over the last year and a half running for the white house, criticize this president on jobs for the unemployment rate being over 8%. now it is under 8%. now it's time for mr. romney to have to pivot from his favorite line. take a listen to both candidates on the campaign trail yesterday reacting to the jobs numbers. >> today's news should give us some encouragement. it shouldn't be an excuse for the other side to try to talk down the economy just to try to score a few political points. it's a reminder that this country's come too far to turn back now. >> so it looks like unemployment is getting better, but the truth is if the same share of people were participating in the work force today as on the day the president got elected, our unemployment rate would be around 11%. that's the real reality of what's happening out there. >> you hear mitt romney pivoting talking about the real unemployment rate at 11%, so i -- i guess that's his pivot

coming off the unemployment rate yesterday. randi, why does all this matter? as you mentioned off the top, the economy by far the number one issue with americans. take a look at this, from our cnn/orc international poll. we did it about a week ago before the first debate but i don't think it will change people's perceptions. by far the economy remains the top issue on the minds of americans. it's been that way since late 2007 when the u.s. economy went into a recession, and how do americans feel about which candidate is doing a better job on the economy right now? they were split going into the first debate. we'll take a look at polling coming out that was conducted after the first debate. again, right there, can you see that number. that 48%, that really says it all. the economy is the most important issue on the minds of american voters, and what's the most important economic issue, jobs, randi? >> which is why there is so much heated debate about those most recent jobs numbers. paul, thank you very much. we added 114,000 jobs last month, look at the latest numbers when it comes to jobs in manufacturing. the industry lost 16,000 jobs.

but manufacturing is an important industry for many swing states, especially along the rustbelt, including small times like goshen, indiana, where our ted rowlands gives us context to those numbers. >> reporter: this is in elk hart county, indiana, an area absolutely hammeringed during the recession, 18% unemployment at its worse, but things are coming back. here they make things like these seat covers which go on airline seats. make covers for the automobile industry and also make high-end furniture, custom furniture, do a lot of different things and have a lot of jobs open right now. in fact, they have added about 70 jobs over the past year alone, going from a workforce of 145 to about 210, around they are looking for more qualified people. the problem is they are having a difficult time trying to fill those positions. now, the unemployment rate here in this county is still at 8%, so one would think that people would be beating down the door for these jobs. we're talking about good-paying

job with full benefits, but they are having trouble filling these spots, and they have for a considerable time. kip wheland is the ceo. you've got some openings right now. what's the problem? why aren't you bringing people in? why is it so difficult? >> well, we have a great manufacturing base in this area. a lot of talented people. we just don't have enough of them. we're up about 70 people as far as the employment here in the plant floor from about a year ago. we need about 15 to 20 more to really have the right amount of capacity and to get out of overtime situations on a consistent basis, so i -- i think that -- >> you're in competition with the rv industry, with the boating industry. >> that's true. >> reporter: and two sectors really coming back so there's pretty much a war going on here for the quality of talent. >> those are real volatile industries. when they are up, they are way up. they come back quickly, but they also drop off quickly.

what happens here is a little more steady. we're able to level load a little bit so when they are up, we have to -- we have to fight a little bit more for the people that are employable here. >> reporter: one of the things that's interesting, we found out that there are some people who are collecting unemployment, and those unemployment benefits, of course, have been eended, and they are choosing not to come back to work because they think that when their benefits do expire that these jobs will still be there, and that, of course, is the frustrating part of this equation. >> there is some of that going on. there's not much we can do about that. what we did can try to do is do as much pre-qualification and testing on an initial basis as to who is -- who is -- who is in a good investment to -- to train. you know, we train as much as we can. a lot of training. >> reporter: bottom line, looking for work, want to be a sewer or work on the line here, in there's even front office

designs, wieland in goshen, indiana. >> most of the job cuts didn't occur in places like wieland designs. in other news overnight, three suspected terrorists arrived in new york after being extradited in london including the notorious abu hamza a-masri. he has a look for a hand and has called osama bin laden a hero. the radical cleric and four others are wanted for horrible crimes committed in the 1990s. some of them are expected to appear in court tomorrow. a texas teenager has been charged with capital murder in the death of two family members. 17-year-old jake evans was taken into custody earlier this week. investigators say he made a call to 911 telling the dispatcher he had just shot and killed his mother and 15-year-old sister. the shootings took place in the family home. investigators believe 17-year-old acted alone. his father was out of town on

business at the time. to colorado where police are searching for a missing 10-year-old. that's her picture there. a.m. an amber alert has been issued for jessica ridgeway after she failed to show up for school. 50 officials including police and fire fighters are looking for her, but she has not yet been found. we've got much more ahead this hour. here's a look at what's coming up. with 50 million in the u.s. and nearly 24 million eligible to vote, some analysts are saying they might decide the next president. all morning we put the latino vote in focus. >> investigators have made progress into the investigation into agent ivie's staff. >> a new theory behind the brutal death of a u.s. border agent. why investigators are saying he may have died at hands of one of his own. 500 convicted felons could be set free in massachusetts. why? this chemist allegedly tampered

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>> okay. so we're just making a public statement here to support big bird, protect him, you know, whoever you're voting for, big bird is the best, and we don't want to see him lose his job. >> got to love our i-reporters here at cnn. they are clever. we are counting down to election day. there is one month to go. this morning we're focusing on one group that's drawing a whole lot of attention in this campaign, and that will be closely watched on election day. latino voters. who is doing a better job at reaching out to the 23 million or so potential voters? take a look at this new cnn/orc poll of latinos. what asked who is doing a better job of reaching out to minorities. 77% said democrats. only 33% chose republicans, and

this may be even bigger. 69% said the democratic party cares more about latinos. that's compared to just 24% for republicans. it is a stark contrast from a group of voters that could be key to many of those important swing states that we talk about so much, but remember, latino voters don't always vote as a group. as our soledad o'brien reports, there's a growing diversity among latinos themselves, especially in places like manhattan. >> reporter: this store is called escondido, hidden, but the max can wares it sells it no hidden so yet. >> you see more and more product and cheeses and medicinal products from mexico, much more interest in mexican chocolate, and you see the changing demographics, people demanding higher quality products. >> reporter: high-tend chocolates and cultural artifacts are so popular they are not just fetching top dollar, escondido has begun accepting pesos. >> more mexicans, more pesos.

makes more sense of accepting them as a waive providing a public service of the people who come to the shop. >> reporter: mexicans have also taken manhattan, moving in where puerto ricans and dominicans once r bodegas and beauty shops. >> a lot of mexicans working in factories and hair salons, nail salons, everything, and, you know, from there they got better and some of them you see them now store owners, their own clothe stores, cell phone places, dealers, the same way somebody from mexico can come and do the same thing here. >> reporter: mexican births will soon outpace dominicans and puerto ricans in new york while more dominicans are leaving than arriving, not just moving up but moving out. >> mexicans are now willing when they come straight from mexico to take lower paying jobs and to endure some of the exploitations the dominican endured, you know, years ago.

>> reporter: rodrigo says he finds new york immigrant friendly and rich with opportunity. he began working in new york's kitchens at age 6 and then sold tacos off a cart, a taco truck, a taco stand, tacos to go, and now he's the owner of four mexican restaurants. >>ou have to work very hard, and i -- i would never expect to be that successful as -- as we do right now. >> reporter: soledad o'brien, cnn. >> and we've got much more ahead on the role of latino voters this this election. coming up in our 10:00 hour eastern time, maria cardona and amy holmes will let us know what the respective parties have done right and wrong. always a lively discussion with those two. be sure to tune in for a special cnn documentary, "latino in america, courting their vote." it is hosted by soledad o'brien, tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern only right here on cnn. there's a new football team in town, but this one is in

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in turkey, two tunisians are being questioned in connection with that deadly consulate attack in libya last month, and an official says the tunisians were on a watch list given to turkey by the united states. ey are being questioned at the request of the u.s. four americans including ambassador chris stevens were killed in that attack. time is ticking away for 48 hostages held by syrian rebels. in this video the rebels wanted their demands met within two days, or they said they would start killing the hostages believed to be iranian pilgrims. rebels are demanding the syrian

regime release rebel prisoners and stop killing civilians. that's not expected to happen before today's deadline. defense secretary leon panetta says a thank you instead of criticism would be welcome for afghan president hamid karzai for the sacrifices american troops have made. his remark followed karzai's accusation that the u.s. isn't doing enough to fight terror in neighboring pakistan. relations between the u.s. and afghanistan have steadily been eroding in recent months. other stories making headlines around the world now. first at the vet can where pope benedict's former butler was just sentenced to 18 months in prison for leaking confidential papers. paulo gabriel was convicted this morning of left. the book, based on his leaked papers, revealed possible corruption in the catholic church hierarchy. gabriel told the court he leaked the papers out of love for the church and didn't field like a thief. and in india american football is the new sport hoping to gain pop logan airport. the new league is made of teams from india, pakistan and sri

lanka. they have names like the delhi defenders. some former nfl stars like mike ditka are backing the project, and many coaches are actually americans. >> we've got guys that were like all over the place, you know, got guys who never played sports. we had like one guy named sticks, 6 foot 5, sitting at the hotel. >> reporter: >> sports expert say the biggest challenge is combating cynicism and training players. now to russia where an 11-year-old boy found the remains of, believe it or not, a woolly mammoth, sticking out of frozen mud. scientists named the mammoth after the boy who found it. it may be more than 20,000 years old. it may have been killed by an ice age man. and a dialect in scotland has gone extinct. the only remaining speaker of a scottish die lack the called cromarty. the dialect was unique because

it's the only dramatic language that doesn't use the w-h sound like what or where? and in venezuela, president hugo vafz, controversial, critical of the united states is now running for another term. our paula newton joins us from caracas, venezuela. after 13 years in power, horrific crime across the country, soaring inflation, crippling poverty, do voters actually still want him? >> reporter: well, there's been what we call a revolution and where all those things are true, he has nationalized industries which has allowed him to fill up those government coffers, and his government proposes that, yes, they have shared the wealth, and it's true that even according to the u.n. there are fewer people today living in poverty in venezuela than there were when chavez took office. you know, randi, there is a sense here that, look, his time is over, and that's not just because he fought cancer.

he claims he's cancer-free but on the campaign trail he isn't looking very healthy, and there is this sense that chavez revolution, the very left wing socialist revolution that he started, could be waning and the problem is taking from government coffers they haven't really invested as much. if you start from that oil infrastructure moving right down to the roads, in caracas, in the capital or out to the regions where there's lots of power, this is a country hanging on by a fiscal threat and they say next year default is perhaps possible and for sure financial restructuring will have to happen, and that could mean a devaluation of the currency here. randi? >> paula, what is at stake really for the u.s. in this election. >> reporter: you know, it might surprise many people in the united states that almost 10% of gas in the united states comes from this very country. this is an opaque nation. any kind of destabilization could have a bit of a price drop when we fill up our gas at the

gas station and chavez has been provocative with the united states. still refers to the united states as the imperialists and certainly has had a lot of people on his side, and he has been seen as the leader of that kind of backlash against u.s. power really in the region. you know, it's so funny. talking about leon panetta, he just said yesterday, look, we want to relinquish that row. south america is a very different place. so it's interesting. this really is the end of an era in many, many different ways and it does mean a different era of engagement here in south america, one way or the other and chavez perhaps may be the beginning, you know, of that whole routine changing. having said that, his opposition, henrique capri le s, a 40-year-old lauer marathon runner, energetic, for six months going up and down the side of the country. this is going to be as close as any election they have ever seen in venezuela. >> certainly one to watch. paula newton, thanks very much, live for us this morning from venezuela. what began as a request by mitt romney's campaign now has

this neighborhood restaurant facing death threats. the campaign's threats and the owner's response that's unleashed such an extreme backlash. but first on a shady road near downtown dal yeah, bail bondsmen, liquor stores and strip clubs line roads to this hidden gem which has become this ultimate texas experience in this week's travel insider. >> reporter: what if i told you that some of the best tacos you'll find not just in dallas, texas, but the entire state of texas are hidden in this gas station? fuel city. you're not going to find this place in some fancy photo spread with the dallas chamber of commerce. it's off the beaten path. you've got to drive past a bunch of bail bond stores, liquor stores, even a couple of closed up strip joints, but it's worth the drive. >> we're going to take you

inside where the magic is made. check it out. you've got beef. you've got chicken. you've got pork. you've got the jalapenos and grilled onions, delicious. >> reporter: fuel city is like texas on steroids, not many car washes where you can look at real horns. this is kind of like texas over the top really. all energy development comes with some risk,

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bottom of the hour now. welcome back, everyone. i'm randi kaye. here are a few stories we're watching this morning. new developments in that shooting that killed a u.s. border patrol agent. the fbi now thinks he may have died by friendly fire. 30-year-old nicholas ivie was shot and killed this week in arizona. originally officials said ivie and his colleague, wounded in the incident, came under fire after responding to a sensor that went off, but authorities say the only shell casings found at the scene were those belonging to the agents. ivie is the third border patrol agent killed in the line of duty this year now. an amber alert has been issued in colorado after this 10 yearly, jessica ridgeway, disappeared on her way to school. the search was delayed because the girl's mother didn't immediately know she was missing. the mother, who works the night shift, slept through phone calls from school officials saying that she hadn't arrived.

police have searched the surrounding area but have found nothing. death threats, threatening phone calls, vicious e-mails all because they declined to be a campaign stop for mitt romney. that is the response this mexican restaurant in denver, colorado is now getting. the cafe has been a neighborhood institution for years, and the owners who are from mexico are mormon. they say they just didn't want to be a campaign tool but weren't expecting certainly not this kind of extreme backlash. the owners say they have received hundreds of threatening phone calls and e-mails. to politics and whoever coined the phrase october surprise clearly knew what they were talking about. only six days in, and this month has been full of them. as we've told you, a jobs report jolted the campaign, but it isn't just the economy that's got people talking. many are still buzzing about the first face-off between president obama and mitt romney and whether the president's re-election chances took a hit thanks to what even his team says was a lackluster

performance. our john king and wolf blitzer talked about some of the game-changing moments in presidential debate history. >> let's go back in history and take a look, wolf, and let's start with 1980. watch the carter/reagan race play out in the polls right here, their one and only debate. if you look at ,d moved ahead o. the question was he up to it, was this actor ready to be president? a lot of people think this was the moment that sealed the deal. >> are you better off than you were four years ago? is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? is america as respected? >> fast forward to 2,000, bush/gore race, know how close it was at the end. look at the gyrations, right after the republican convention, george w. bush goes up and al gore gets back in the hunt. come to the first debate with gore ahead but this is when he sighed so much, look, al gore

comes down and in the second debate, that moment you talked about a few moments ago, rob portman filling in for al gore prepared george w. bush for this. >> that's what the question in this campaign is about. it's not only what your philosophy and what's your position on issues, but can you get things done, and i believe i can. >> all right. >> what about the norwood bill? >> a priceless moment there from george w. bush. went or very narrowly, built a little bit of a lead and kept it until the very end and more recently in 2004, george w. bush running for re-election. again, a very competitive close race with john kerry for a long time. after the first debate george w. bush came down, a lot of people said that he was shaky in that debate, didn't answer a question about the iraq war very well and stabilized the race a little bit and in the end, in the final debate, look at this, almost tied coming in, bush starts to pull away with a strong last debate performance where he made a connection on faith. >> it's very personal. i pray for strength, i pray for which is dornlgs i pray for our

troops in harp's way, i pray for my family. i pray for my little girls. prayer and religion sustain me. i receive calmness in the storms of the presidency. >> calmness in the storms of the presidency from george w. bush. he went on then from that debate to keep his lead and to win that election. >> and joining me now is cnn contributor and democratic strategist hillary rosen. hillary, good morning. both critics and support efforts of president obama say he was off in the debate. we've got numbers that simultaneously give the president a boost on the economy and take away key republican line of attack that we all have learned well that, nation's unemployment rate remains above 8%. 31 days from now, hillary, what is going to resonate more with voters? will it be style or substance? >> that's a great question, randi, because i think that, you know, there was a lot of

theater, not just on the stage the other night, but, you know, in the mediate next day and people talking about performances, but i think when we look at kind of dial groups from undecided voters and even the cnn groups and other independent groups, you know, what people said was, okay, mitt romney won the debate on -- on style, but it didn't change their mind about the election, and i think voters are really looking for answers, like these jobs reports i think are -- are significant, and that's why the republicans are doing everything they can to discredit them because what we're saying -- what we're seeing is that we're moving in the right direction. we found ourselves in a hole and are moving in the right direction and president obama has been pretty steady eddie about that, and that's what voters are going to respond to. >> so you think then that the jobs report is enough to cancel out obama's debate performance, or will there be continued damage? >> i don't think there's any

comparison. the jobs reports are about real people and real lives and where the economy is going. the debate was, as i said, just sort of important theater, and -- but if i -- i actually watched the debate again yesterday just to try to get it. president obama didn't do so badly. he was much quieter. he was more thoughtful. he got a lot of facts out. it was just very wonky. but when push comes to shove, the policies that president obama's for, whether it's promoting the middle class, looking to support education, not wanting to see the health care cuts that are in the romney/ryan plan, those policies supporting women are much more popular than mitt romney's policies, and i think that the obama team is going to kind of double down on that over the next few weeks. >> let's talk about a piece on cnn.com. you gave president obama some tips on how to win the first debate. >> right. >> writing in part, this is a great little read. you wrote my final piece of advice is most simple.

stay nice. no, you're likable enough comments. no jokes about dogs on top of the car, >> reporter: marking about how rich romney is, no patronizing lecturing when he has his facts wrong. just stay nice. but looking back, i mean, you say he didn't do so badly but by all accounts the president remained calm, maybe too calm for some of his supporters, didn't engage in the attacks, didn't use the bain capital, didn't use the 47% attacks, and -- and the overwhelming consensus, of course, was that romney won. what's your advice for him for the next debate? do you still say stay nice, stay calm in the. >> the first two pieces in that column may not be at pithy and important in my view, number one, this election is a choice. it's not a referendum on the president. it's a choice. which policies are you going to like better? and what we found in the debate was that mitt romney kind of walked away from a lot of the policies he had been talking about, so president obama i think didn't have the opportunity he should have had to compare their plans because

every time he talked about what was in the romney plan, romney said oh, no, no, no, that's not in my plan when it of course had been for the last six months. next time we're going to have to go back at that a little bit. and the second point was that when we look at -- at america today, you know, we're not in a -- in a state -- yes, everybody's got the economy as their number one issue, but people don't live in that kind of binary world. when an immigrant family is worried about whether their children are going to be deported, they can't study as hard at school. when a woman -- when a mom is worried about, you know, paying for her reproductive health, you know, that adds an extra burden to her economic struggles. when a gay and lexan family doesn't have benefits or isn't recognized, you know, the workplace and where they choose to work becomes a much bigger struggle, so i actually think that bringing in some of those -- some of those issues,

some of those more human issues where there's a great divide between the president and mitt romney are going to be really important. >> cnn contributor hilary rosen, thank you very much. appreciate that. >> take care, randi. she tested drug samples connected to 34,000 criminal defendants in massachusetts. next, the mind-boggling story of a drug lab chemist accused of tampering with evidence and forging documents. make 70,000 . ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone.

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took hours to work or made me drowsy. after allegra, i have the only 24-hour medicine that's both fast and non-drowsy. after allegra, i have it all. a massachusetts chemist who worked for a state drug lab for nine years is facing allegations of misconduct. annie dookhan is accused of faking drug results, forging paperwork and mishandling drug samples. the damage she's accused of could be enormous. police say she tested drug

samples involving 34,000 defendants while employed at the lab. lawyers and judges are now scrambling to deal with the fallout and so are the people whose convictions were based on the science now in question. here's susan candiotti. >> reporter: former massachusetts chemist annie dookhan. >> could you tell us what happened. >> reporter: the state of massachusetts is accusing dookhan of tampering with drug evidence that could call into question at least 34,000 cases going back to 2003. 34,000. at the moment she faces only three charges. however, in boston alone, the d.a. estimates as many as 500 convicted felons could be set free. how big of a mess is this? >> at this point, susan, we don't know. >> reporter: at this lab now closed by the state dookhan allegedly mishandled drugs seized by police for evidence at trial. she allegedly estimated the amount of drugs at times by simply looking at them and

certified some drugs as cocaine that are now testing negative. she didn't just write down the wrong thing. prosecutors accuse her of doctoring evidence to change test results. >> she would take known cocaine from an area that she knew was cocaine and actually add them to the sample to make it cocaine. >> incredible story. let's turn to cnn contributor paul callen for legal analysis on this. good morning to you. >> good morning, randi. >> what kind of damage do you see here? >> well, this is a scandal of staggering dimensions. i mean, i've seen -- i've researched this, and this has happened in labs elsewhere in the country, a rogue -- one rogue person making a mistake on a case or testifying falsely in case. but this case involved 60,000 drug samples that were potentially tested, and there are literally thousands of defendants who may be i prison now who could be affected by

these results. how does it play out ultimately? all of their convictions could be thrown out, and many of them, by the way, are the no just drug criminals, they are violent criminals. you might have had one drug count in the conviction, but it could have been a rape prosecution or a murder prosecution, so this is an enormous, enormous scandal and danger to the public. >> yeah. >> in massachusetts. >> i mean, 34,000 cases going all the way back to 2003, and in one case this convicted rapist whose bail was reduced after the scandal was released and is now a fugitive, and you're saying the public should be alarmed in case of these dangerous people out there. >> well, they should, and i think, you know, some people are going to come forward and say well, you know, all right. they will just throw out the drug count, but if he's in for rape he'll stay in for rape. well, not true, because how do we know the jury wasn't influenced by the fact that the guy was a drug dealer or possessed drugs in evaluating his credibility on the rape or murder or whatever other charge there was?

that's what i'm really worried about. i'm not worried about drug criminals but violent criminals being released into the streets of massachusetts and elsewhere in the country, by the way, as a result of this scandal. >> what ultimately could happen to this accused chemist? >> well, she's in serious hot water. i mean, right now she's only charged with two things, obstruction of justice and, you know, when she testified in many of these cases, she claimed that she had a degree, a masters degree in chemistry which apparently she did not have or didn't have it where from where she said she had it from. they will get her on perjury, on obstruction of justice. the attorney general of massachusetts says by the time they are done with her she will be facing 20 years in prison and very, very serious charges against her. >> yeah. >> this is a blow to the criminal justice system. >> it's amazing that she was actually estimating -- allegedly estimating the amount of drugs just by eyeballing them. i'm curious how this might affect drug labs in other states. i mean could, we see a change in the role of the chemists who work there as a result?

>> well, i think labs will be much more careful about vetting who works in these labs, and that procedure you were talking about, by the way, is called dry-labbing. it's sort of you like at a vile and if it looks like drugs you say it's drugs. that's what you do. a vile of white powder and would say, all right, it looks like cocaine, all right, it's cocaine. these labs have to be monitored and make sure capable people are running them, but you need auditing processes to make sure people are doing their jobs. ironically with the budget cutbacks and everything and people working hard to keep their jobs, she was trying to be extremely productive in massachusetts. she was doing three times the work of other people in the lab to show she was a great employee, and, of course, this is going to cost the commonwealth of massachusetts a staggering amount of money in lawsuits and in danger to the public when they try to clean this mess up. >> yeah. it's -- it's really an incredible story. we'll continue to follow it. paul callan, nice to see you on

this saturday morning. >> nice being with you, randi. here's a question what do facial expressions, posture and fing-pointing and hugs tell us about political candidates? a body language expert walks us through this week's big debate. about political candidates? a body language expert walks us through this week's big debate. about political candidates? a body language expert walks us through this week's big debate. about political candidates? a body language expert walks us through this week's big debate. s about political candidates? a body language expert walks us through this week's big debate. the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer?

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and never miss a moment. the htc one x from at&t now $99.99. ♪ >> i'm a 20-year-old student. i'm one of the undecided voters that president obama and mitt romney have to sway over in this vote, and this is the first time that i'm going to be voting for president. >> voters, pundits and the media might have pored over every word the candidates said this week in the presidential debate but we're taking a different look at things and checking out how blinking, posture and finger-pointing and even hugs played a role. body expect patty wood joining me in studio this morning. >> good morning. >> when you look at the debate, and we've done this even with the -- some of the other debates, but winning a debate isn't just about what you say, right, it's about what -- how you say it and what you look like? >> exactly, because so much of the emotion and the power is

communicated non-verbally, and so much of how we read that in the brim tim brain is down through the non-verbal behavior. >> just look at the beginning of the debate from wednesday night, the moment that governor romney and president obama came on stage, tell me what you see. >> well, i see the president going into what i call the politician's handshake, high on the arm, i'm in control, i'm the alpha here, setting the tone for how he thinks the debate is going toe going. >> that's the hand on the arm. >> higher on the arm, the more power and control that person is showing, and it's very typical of politicians to do that. high on the arm handshake to show that control. >> and that's power. >> okay. >> and there's a lot -- >> do you notice they continue to hit each other, what is that? >> that's a guy thing? >> that's a debate thing. >> the hitting says, hey, i like you, but there's other people watching. >> so when you go back to the

podium though, when they actually started the debate, the president has taken a lot of heat, a lot of criticism for looking down. >> yes. >> shaking his head, nodding a lot. >> yes. and the downward motion, he wanted to stay contained. he was really, really upset with how much romney was overspeaking, overlapping, interrupting, going over the time and to keep that presidential look, unfortunately, he did that by putting his head down, and that made his lose his power to that visual realm of the audience. >> what does it tell the audience? >> tells -- it makes the audience feel like he feels defeated. >> which isn't good. that's not what you wanted. >> and it's interesting though it was containment not how it felt to us. >> what about romney? many times during the debate he was blinking very rapidly. >> yes. >> and that showed his tension, and often was when obama won a point in the debate, you saw romney respond to that by doing that frequent blinking, over 70

blinks per minute that shows how stress level and then he would jump in and typically he would take the turn away as soon as that happened. >> and you also saw him, doing it here, a lot of big movements, the hands up and down and rocking back and forth. >> remember last time i said that's what he needed to do, bring up his energy and bring up his gestures, he did that right here. >> you think he was tuned in. >> i also think he was a little bit caffeinated, like double espresso caffeinated. >> i think he had been up for days, eyes bloodshot, practicing and rehearsing maybe, i don't know. >> the energy completely changed. i was so struck by that. >> what about we talked about his blinking, what about obama's smile? >> well, he had a couple of ever real smiles when he won a couple of points, when he was talking about obama care. he smoothly went into the points. he gave real smiles, but most of the smiles were in irritation to things he thought romney were saying that were absolutely ridiculous, like you have no idea how this job it was the

smile he was giving romney. >> eventually it ended. >> yes. >> let's talk about the hugs and the handshakes at the end. what did you see there? >> yes. >> remember we talked about obama being in control in the beginning. that's the primacy effect and there's a recency effect at the end of the debate, the last thing a viewer remembers and it's very interesting. romney didn't want to leave the stage. kept staying and stretching it out. >> enjoying the moment. >> he wanted to be the last visual that we had of i won this debate. he just revelled in it and stayed and stayed and stayed, and obama left. >> what about obama's body language at the end though, did he seem -- he seemed to be sort of hunched over a little bit. >> he did. i thought that was very interesting. again, i do feel like he realized he didn't do well, and there was a point, even in his closing statements, where you felt like he'd given up. he was so weary at that close, and he didn't do what i wanted him to do and that's look straight at that camera and make that appeal. >> right. >> so the next debate will be in

a town hall setting. do you think we'll see different sort of body language. >> interested to see if romney can keep up his energy like he did so well here and very interested to see if obama comes up to the bar and he does so well when there's an audience. i want to see some of that charisma and warmth. >> all right. always very interesting. thank you so much, patty. appreciate you coming in. >> my pleasure. >> so that was just fun. but a serious look at the colorado debate. what are all the comedians, of course, saying about it? this best late night lafrs of the week coming up. but things are starting to turn around the week coming up. gions is her. with the experience and service to keep things rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going.

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good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. victor blackwell is off today. it's 9:00 on the east coast. 6:00 a.m. out west. thanks so much for starting your day with us. in a bitter political season even the labor department has become a target. the new jobs report has

triggered a backlash among critics of president obama. the unemployment rate fell to 7.8% in september, a drop of 0.3% from august. the numbers appear good on the surface, but just too good for jack welch, a former ceo of general electric tweeted this. unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so change numbers. well, welch later came on cnn's a360 and said if he had that tweet to do all over again he would have added one thing. >> so many politicians these days are saying like michele bachmann will say something that factually is not correct or provable and then we'll say look, i'm asking the question. is it responsible to say i'm asking the question but to say the chicago guys will do anything, oh, i'm just asking the question. >> should have put the question mark at the end like i did last night. a question mark would have been better at the back of that. >> okay. so you are kind of backing away. >> i'm not backing away. i'm not backing away. >> you wish you would amend your

tweet. >> wish i had a question mark at the back of it. the same implication. >> but to say something like this is like donald trump saying that president obama is not an american citizen without any proof. you are jack welch. jack, you've got to take this opportunity while everybody is listening to you to actually say, yes, anderson, i'm taking that tweet back. i'm going to send a new tweet to say i was exaggerating. there are problems bls should look into but to throw out an accusation that's like asking the government how often do you beat your wife. >> i should have had a question mark at the back of it, ali, let's face it, but the facts, are ali, no matter how you want to look at this, we had 25 economists polled before this number came out. the average number they expected was about 115,000. not one of them -- >> yes. >> had a number below 1.1. >> labor secretary hilda so li s shot back at the critics telling cnn it was insulting for people to suggest her department was manipulating numbers for the president's benefit. the obama and romney

campaigns are ratcheting up the rhetoric in the wake of the jobs report. our political editor paul steinhauser hats candidate's comments. one set of numbers, two sets of eyes. >> yeah, very, very different responses to the friday jobs report, no doubt about it, and you know why the economy remains by far the biggest issue on the minds of americans. jobs are the most important issue for them and that's why the candidates have so much at stake. take a listen to how both men talked about these numbers on the campaign trail. >> today's news should give us some encouragement. it shouldn't be an excuse for the other side to try to talk down the economy just to try to score a few political points. it's a reminder that this country's come too far to turn back now. >> the unemployment rate, as you noted this year has come down very, very slowly but come down nonetheless. the reason it's come down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for

work. >> for a year envelope that romney has been running for president he's been criticizing president obama for doing a bad job on jobs and pointed to the fact that the unemployment level had been above 8%. now that it's below 8% you can hear mitt romney talking about a different tactic there, and he says that, you know, if you add in all the people who have stopped looking for jobs, the real unemployment level he says would be around 11%. randi? >> so paul, one presidential debate down, one to go after the vp debate this coming thursday, but what do you think the candidates will focus on as they head up into that debate? >> well, they are already beginning to prepare for the next debate. mitt romney doing campaign debate preparation and the president will as well before they -- before they also head out on the campaign trail. both candidates are looking back at what happened on wednesday in denver, and they are looking ahead. take a listen to both men. >> my opponent, he is doing a lot of tap dance at the debate the other night, trying to wiggle out of stuff he's been

saying for a year, doing like -- it was like "dancing with the stars" or maybe it was "extreme makeover." debate edition >> i thought it was a good chance for us to ask each other questions. i asked the president some of the questions i know people across america have wanted to ask him. i asked him, for instance, why with 23 million americans that were looking for work and wanted a president that would focus on getting the economy going he instead spent his first two years fighting for obama care. >> i think you're going to hear more of mitt romney question the president's priorities and more of the president saying, hey, who was that mitt romney i debated the other night? not the real guy i know. the real highlight this upcoming week will be the vice presidential debate, the only showdown between vice president biden and congressman paul ryan and, of course, that will be moderated -- the next presidential debate, of course, will be moderated by our own candy crowley. >> and the vice presidential debate should be pretty

interesting. i mean, biden is usually pretty good going on the attack. >> biden will definitely probably try to be the aggressor here to pick up where the president left off last week in denver, and i think paul ryan is known as a pretty good numbers man, and i think it should be a pretty interesting debate, randi. >> sure will. we'll be watching. paul steinhauser, thank you. >> thank you. overnight three suspected terrorists arrived in new york after being extradited from london, including the notorious abu hamza al masri. he has a hook for a hand and is being called a osama bin laden hero. the radical cleric and four others are wanted for several crimes committed against the u.s. in the 1990s. they are accused of kidnapping tourists and conspireing to build a jihadist training camp in oregon. some of them are expected to appear in court tomorrow. defense secretary leon panetta is firing back at afghan president hamid karzai. it all follows karzai's criticism that allied troops haven't done enough to battle insurgents in pakistan. here's what panta said in his

rare public dressing down of karzai. i think it would be helpful if the president every once in a while expressed his thanks for the sacrifices that have been made by those who have fought and died for afghanistan rather than criticizing them. gas prices rising again. the national average at 3.81, up from 3.79 yesterday. so what is driving up the cost? a new u.n. report points to massive bets placed on the commodities market for the volatility in oil and gas prices, and it's not likely to change any time soon. bad news for drivers in places like california for sure where the average gallon of cass is 4.61, topping $5 actually in some parts of that state. when you talk about swing states, ohio rises to the top of the discussion, but what are ohio voters focusing on? is it romney's debate demeanor or is the falling unemployment rate? we'll check with both sides to see who has the advantage there. , there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%.

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today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. as someone who knows the issues, i understand that president obama won the debate on facts. my only concern is for those people who do not know the issues that they may look at the temperamentalism of mitt romney and the statements without facts that he continued to make and assume that he was knowledgeable on issues or somehow he would

have been better for the middle class. so my answer -- >> one of our i-reporters there. we want to take a closer look at one of the key swing states that could decide the outcome of the presidential race. it's ohio, and ohio carries 18 electoral votes. a court has now given the obama campaign a victory allowing voters to cast ballot on the final weekend before the election. the state has been a focus of the campaigns. there was even some name-dropping at the debate. >> i was in dayton, ohio, and a woman grabbed my arm and said i've been out of work since may, can you help me? >> so at the cleveland clinic, one of the best health care systems in the world, they actually provide great care cheaper than average, and the reason they do is because they do some smart things. >> let's bring in the republican assistant secretary of state for ohio. scott, good morning to you.

first your reaction to yesterday's ruling? >> i think yesterday's ruling was -- it came at 3:00 yesterday. we haven't had time to talk about it at the office. i think it was something that was expected based on the draw that came from the court. the secretary of state has decided by monday morning he's going to be making a decision on which way to go as far as issuing a directive or letting the counties make the choices themselves, and he'll decide whether he wants to appeal that decision or not on monday so we're not going to sit on it for a long time. we think it's very important that the voters have the rules down as soon as possible so that they can get out there and vote and get their choice for president and for u.s. senate. >> so let's talk about the two big events this week that could affect ohio voters, the debate and the new jobs report that shows unemployment dropping below 8% for the first time now in more than three years. in your state of ohio which is bigger? >> well, you know, i think they are both big. i think numbers are always big and i think campaigns make a big

deal about numbers, but the numbers really don't go outside of your neighborhood. ohioans very much care about in their neighborhood and their community, so 100,000 jobs nationwide very, very important, but not in parma if you still don't have your job or you're underemployed, so i think that's something that ohioans are still very touch and feel. the numbers, like i said, statistics mean a lot of things, but they don't really mean anything if you or your neighbor are still having a problem getting a job or quite frankly are underemployed. that's a big issue in ohio as well. who is underemployed and who sees the opportunity to get back on their feet again where they used to be a couple years ago? >> one of mitt romney's key surrogates and debate prep partner is from ohio. i'm talking about senator rob portman, of course. our jim acosta has called him the debate whisperer. is he the key to romney doing well there? >> well, i think rob portman is a key for any republican doing well because, you know, rob is -- he is the most

knowledgeable calming force. he knows how to communicate things extremely well and efficiently without calling names, without being name-calling or without being too bitter. rob portman is very well respected. he's relatively unknown, but what rob did to win the state by just huge numbers for the state of ohio when he ran for u.s. senate was he got out and touched and felt people. he listened. rob is an excellent listener, and i think the candidate going forward that listens to the voters of ohio is the one that's going to end up on top. >> let's look back to 2008 and the election. barack obama won the big counties with the big cities. he won the state by what, just four points, but how can mitt romney turn that around this time? >> well, i mean, i think you make a good point. there's two ohios. there's -- there's five or six large counties, and they tend to be urban voters with some suburban outreach. then there's the collar counties which are all the suburbs which tend to go republican, and then you have the dynamic between

northeast ohio and southwest ohio, so the fact is at the end of the day i don't know that anybody needs to turn anything around. this is a very different election than four years ago. four years ago you had an open presidency which always drives turnout. you had the first african-american candidate which drives turnout, and you had a war hero which also drives turnout. this time you have an incumbent president. you have a governor from another state, and so it's just very interesting. the dynamics around the election here in ohio seem to be toned down a little bit. the only time people get too excited is when the national folks come in and tell us how to get a little too excited, but i think there's a lot of things in ohio that people don't realize. i think a decided votener ohio is only decided for today. often changes their mind right up until the day of the election, and, again, i suspect ohio is going to be plus or minus two points either way. >> and let's go -- let's take a look down ticket now to the house races in ohio. i mean, right now the state is

split 13-5 in favor of the republicans. a big part of the republican majority in the house of representatives. i mean, are those races just as important as the presidential race? >> well, i mean, anybody that's a student of government understands the president can do just so much without a congress, so i think at the end of the day the congressional numbers and the u.s. senate numbers are very, very important to where the state goes public policy-wise. you know, look, the 13 -- ohio is not going to get many more than 13 republican congressmen. there's some good races out there. there are going to be close races out there, but i actually don't believe either one of the presidential campaigns have coattails this year. i don't think either campaign is particularly strong enough to pull one person through or one person down. i think these are going to be done individually on the ground, and i think you see the activity the congressional candidates, maybe unprecedented out there, in which they are not trying to hook on to the president. they are not trying to hook on to governor romney. they are trying to -- to kind of

cut their own swath, so to say >> let me get back to that first question at the top our interview. we got news, of course, from the court that has now given the obama campaign a victory, as we said, allowing voters to cast ballots in that final weekend before the election. are you expecting that this ruling is actually going to be defied? >> no, no, no, no. first of all, i think what the ruling says is that it is up to the counties and up to the secretary of state to make the decision on operating hours. it does not -- it's a misconception that it says must be open. i think the decision the secretary of state is going to decide by monday is which path is he going to take, but the decision absolutely does not say you are mandated to be open. what it says is you cannot be closed, and that decision historically goes back to before the statute took effect, and that essentially puts it in the hands of the counties or a directive of the secretary of state, and that's what the

secretary is going to be deciding over the weekend. >> okay. appreciate that. thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thanks for having me, thank you. up next, the democratic perspective from state senator nin nina turner. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil,

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not everyone can be a foster parent... but anyone can help a foster child. welcome back. 21 minutes past the hour now, and it is time to get to the other side of the ohio story. a federal court has sided with the obama campaign and will allow early voting in ohio on the weekend before the election. that ruling just coming yesterday afternoon. the state had tried to place a restriction on early voting. nina turner is an ohio state senator, a democrat, representing the cleveland area. nina, good morning. your reaction to that ruling?

>> good morning, randi. elated. this is a great day for the voters in the state of ohio, the fact that the sixth circuit court upheld what the judge had to say, that what the state did was unconstitutional, so it's a great day for voters in our state. >> who gets a bump, do you think, from the early voting? >> well, traditionally, african-american voters and other voters in urban areas who tend to vote as democrats utilize early in-person voting, so really all voters in the state of ohio have access to this, and this is really what this is about. this is what democrats have been fighting for, that voters in the state of ohio should not be treated differently. they should be treated equally, and they should have opportunity to go to the ballot box. >> i'm curious. have you already voted? >> i have, randi. i vote on the first day of early voting which was on october 2nd and it is up across the state, particularly in cuyahoga county where on the very first day

1,900 people voted, and that is an increase from 2008. >> i know that county well. i asked the same question just a moment ago of assistant secretary of state. which will have a bigger impact on the voters, the debate that we saw this week or the new jobs report showing unemployment now down to 7.8%? >> the jobs report. i mean, here in ohio, ohioans certainly understand who has their back, and that is the president of the united states. when he rescued the auto industry thereby one of every eight jobs in ohio are tied to the unemployment industry. our unemployment rate in ohio is 7.2. doing quite well, certainly need to do better, but that is in large part the president's policies in promoting and working with the auto industry in the state of ohio along with our federal senator, senator sherrod brown. ohioans know what affects us all affects us indirectly and so the fact that the unemployment rate

is below 8% is great news as well. >> we've been focusing this morning on the latino vote. how big of an effect could they have this time around, do you think? >> a huge impact. very huge impact in the state of ohio and all across the nation, and i believe that hispanic voters understand as well who has their back in terms of the 47%. you know, can you not represent people who you have disdain for, and no matter how governor romney tried to dress it up during his debate with the president, the fact remains that when he was in a setting of comfort among wealthy donors he said how he really felt about the 47%, so i believe that hispanic voters, african-american voters, other voters of color, people who live in poverty, working class people, understand who supports them and who wants to make sure that they can have the opportunity to live their measure of the american dream, and that is undoubtedly president obama. >> but if you look at polls there, they are still really close. president obama was there in cleveland yesterday. he's already made a couple of dozen visits to the state.

>> he was. >> what does the president need to do to try to widen his lead there in ohio? >> randi, the president has visited ohio at least 22 times over the course of his presidency, and, yes, fast and furious during the campaign time, but the president is doing quite well in ohio. he's up at least by the last polls by about eight points, so the president will not take anybody in ohio for granted, hence his continued visit to the state of ohio, but ohioans are standing with the president, and i believe that when the final votes are cast, ohio will go with the president as we did in 2008, and as we remember, randi, when ohio came in in support of the president, we knew that he had the presidency, and we're going to help him make history again. >> all right. we'll be watching along with you come election night. nina turner, ohio state senator, thank you very much. >> thank you, randi. this best late night laugh of the week coming up next. t bes people like you,

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